DayZ

A post-apocalyptic MMO first person shooter. The game, created by the Czech developer Bohemia Interactive Studios, is an expanded version of a popular ArmA II mod. DayZ features a world where most of the population turned into bloodthirsty zombies.

DayZ is an online action game focusing on survival aspect of the game. It is set in the world where most of the population turned into blood-thirsty zombies. It is a commercial successor to very popular mod for ArmA II and it was developed by team led by Dean “Rocket” Hall (creator of the mod) in Czech studio Bohemia Interactive.

Story

Game takes place in Chernarus – a post-Soviet country which has 225 square kilometers. It begins in some time after outbreak of the epidemic which turned most of people into blood-thirsty zombies.

Gameplay

We start the game by creating our character. He/she is stored on the main server so each time we continue the game in place where we stopped it last time, regardless of chosen server. Our target is to survive as long as we can and acquire the best possible gear by the chance. We can upgrade the equipment by using deep crafting system – it allows us to combine objects to create more powerful weapon or other item that will help us fight the enemies.

Every day we must deal with many problems, like hunger or low temperature. It isn’t easy task as, for example, there is complex system of nutrition which forces us to pay attention to nutritional values of various products and can make us sick in various ways if we have a wrong diet. The game becomes even more stressful if we consider that in case of death we lose all items and have to start from the beginning.

Thanks to being played online and being based on the engine of the military shooter, DayZ offers totally different approach to zombie apocalypse than most of similar contemporary games. Zombies are only one of the threats here – other people can be much more dangerous. However, surviving alone is extremely difficult. It causes us to look for allies even tough it is risky as we have no guarantee that a new friend won’t shoot us later in the back.

Technology

In the beginning DayZ used modified engine of another game from Bohemia Interactive – Take On Helicopters – but in the course of production developers moved the game to a new engine called Infusion. It allowed creators to use possibilities offered by DirectX 10 and 11, eliminate many graphical glitches and implement dynamic lighting and high quality shadows, among other things.

The guide to DayZ contains information crucial for beginners, which will not only let you live through your first moments in Chernarus, but also effectively function through the rest of your stay in this fictional country.

Guide to DayZ describes ten the most important notions which should be known for every beginner, but also more advanced players can find something for them here. Two first chapters let you know the environment of DayZ: Standalone.

Since December 1st DayZ private servers owners can ask for an admission fee and accept donations from players. Bohemia Interactive is currently doing a test run of the monetization system to see how it works in their zombie-themed MMO.

DayZ will get a single player mode and equip the players with tools to host their own servers. In the future, the game will use the Steam Workshop functionality to help modders. DayZ is expected to enter the beta phase by the end of the year.